Thoughts on Rian Johnson Clearing His Tweets Following James Gunn Firing

Last week James Gunn was fired as director of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 after Disney came out saying they found a number of his old tweets “offensive”. “The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James’ Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio’s values, and we have severed our business relationship with him,” Disney chairman Alan Horn said in a statement.

Now, Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson has gone and deleted approximately 20,000 of his tweets in a preemptive strike all on his own. He said he used an app to mass delete his tweets instead of going through them one-by-one.

Johnson explained in a tweet that he wasn’t deleting his tweets under any official directive, but to head off any groups looking to cause trouble for him.

No official directive at all, and I don’t think I’ve ever tweeted anything that bad. But it’s nine years of stuff written largely off the cuff as ephemera, if trolls scrutinizing it for ammunition is the new normal, this seems like a “why not?” move.

Hollywood is currently undergoing a zero tolerance culture every since Harvey Weinstein’s abusive behavior came out. On top of Gunn’s dismissal, head of Paramount TV, Amy Powell, was let go for allegedly making “racially charged” remarks about African-American women. Right before that, ABC canned its series, Roseanne when series lead Roseanne Barr tweeted racist comments directed at former White House adviser Valerie Jarrett.

Gunn came out with an apology for his tweets saying:

“My words of nearly a decade ago were, at the time, totally failed and unfortunate efforts to be provocative,” Gunn said. “I have regretted them for many years since — not just because they were stupid, not at all funny, wildly insensitive, and certainly not provocative like I had hoped, but also because they don’t reflect the person I am today or have been for some time.”

Just today it came out that CBS is investigating allegations of sexual misconduct aimed at CEO Les Moonves, issuing a statement:

“All allegations of personal misconduct are to be taken seriously. The Independent Directors of CBS have committed to investigating claims that violate the Company’s clear policies in that regard.”

While Johnson’s action might seem like overkill, it might not be enough as everything seems to last forever on the internet. It seems more of a symbolic gesture as to where we are at in a back-and-forth conflict.

Will others follow suit? Perhaps. But it won’t change everyone being on high alert as Hollywood moves in a new direction.